International News

Feb 19, 2019

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7:40AM

Israel to launch its first moon mission this week

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Israelis to launch its first moon mission this week, sending an unmanned spacecraftto collect data to be shared with NASA.

Accordingto a report, the 585-kilogram Beresheet (Genesis) spacecraft is to lift off atopa Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida at around 0145 GMT on Friday.Mission control will be in Yehud, near Tel Aviv.

TechnologyNGO SpaceIL, which is part of this mission, president Morris Kahn said,Israel are entering history and are proud to belong to a group that has dreamedand fulfilled the vision shared by many countries in the world but that so faronly three of them have accomplished.

Sofar only Russia, the United States and China have sent their spacecraft to themoon. The Chinese spacecraft made the first ever soft landing on the far sideof the moon on January 3.